


Essential Essence

by IrreverentFangirl



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), DCU (Comics), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Canon Character of Color, Canon Queer Character of Color, F/F, Families of Choice, Fix-It, Gen, Laurel goes by Dinah, Multi, Name Changes, Original Character(s), Original Characters - Freeform, Platonic Relationships, Polyamory, Queer Themes, Slow Build, Team as Family, Thea goes by Mia, Threesome - F/F/M, Time Manipulation, Time Travel, Triad - Freeform, pre-Birds of Prey, pre-Justice League, well other than robert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 12:44:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9182350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrreverentFangirl/pseuds/IrreverentFangirl
Summary: “Look, like I said, I'm from the future. Specifically, the year 2051. And we’re...not in a good place. Bluntly? The future’s fucked! And my mentor, Vibe, he has the ability to see alternate timelines. So he looked at other worlds and realized that the worlds that looked the best had the hero scene starting far differently than ours had. And that, in all of them, you three ladies were in the front and center.”In which saving the world starts with saving Laurel, Thea, and Shado.





	

**Author's Note:**

> yeah, tbh i have no clue what this is

**_June 7, 2028_ **

**_Star City_ **

Dinah Lance and Mia Dearden entered their apartment and crashed on the couch, both giggling softly. Mia immediately snuggled into Dinah’s side, burying her face into the taller woman’s neck as she struggled to control her laughter. 

“We haven't had such an amusing mission in months,” Mia said as she slung one of her arms around Dinah’s waist. Dinah chuckled and pressed a kiss against Mia’s forehead. 

“I just can't believe we ran across a meta whose powers was that she could turn into what was essentially a puddle.” 

“Wasn't that one of the characters’ in  _ Sky High _ ’s powers?” Mia asked, still snickering. 

Dinah laughed harder as she stretched out, allowing her boot-clad feet to land on the table in front of their couch with a low  _ thud.  _ “I think it was. I'm just happy we got an easy mission. We deserve it after the mess that was last month.” 

Mia groaned. “Don't remind me,” she said. 

As the words left her mouth, a bright flash flooded the room.

* * *

 

**_June 7, 2008_ **

**_Lian Yu_ **

Shado was kneeling in front of Ivo, frozen in fear and devastation as she numbly heard Ivo screaming at Oliver to choose between her or Sara or they'd both die. 

Shado knew Oliver wouldn't choose her. Truly, she was certain he wouldn't choose either and they would both die because of his indecision. She wished to be good, to tell him to choose Sara, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. 

She may be willing to accept the inevitability of death when it was a concept, but she didn't  _ want  _ to die. She wanted to escape Liànyù and to go home. She wanted to see Mei again and to finish her schooling, become a doctor. 

_But_ _that wasn't going to happen,_ rang through her head as she watched Oliver jump in front of Sara and heard Ivo speak him damned words before the click of a gun behind her and then...there was a flash of light. 

And she dropped dead.

* * *

 

**_June 7, 2009_ **

**_The Glades_ **

**_Starling City_ **

Dinah Lance, Mia Dearden, and Yao Shado all suddenly appeared in alley in front of a pretty Mexican girl. Dinah, Mia, and Shado looked confused, but the stranger had a self-satisfied smile on her face.

  
Dinah grabbed Mia’s hand and dragged the smaller woman behind her back. She glared at the two strange women, even though one looked as shocked as she and Mia had a minute earlier.

  
“Who are you and where are we?” she demanded.   


“I'm Esencia and I'm from the future. And this is Yao Shado,” the costumed girl said with a broad smile. She was wearing a navy turtleneck tank that showcased her toned arms with  an ‘E’ on its chest, a pair of form fitting royal blue pants, and black, leather, calf-length boots. Covering the upper half of her face was a indigo domino mask.    


“Wait, the girl who has been on the island with Ollie?” Mia asked, sending Dinah a look. Dinah sneered at Esencia.   


“Where are we?” she hissed.   


Esencia’s hands flew up in the air. “Whoa, don't kill me,” she said. “I'm here to help. And you're in the Glades in the year 2009.”   


Dinah and Mia looked shocked; Shado just looked confused. “That's...nineteen years ago,” Mia said with wide eyes.   


Shado’s eyebrows furrowed. “No it isn't,” she said. “That's next year.”   


Esencia smirked. “Time travel tends to confuse things,” she said. 

Shado scoffed suddenly. “How am I here?” she demanded. “I just died!” 

Esencia’s smirk softened into a sad smile. “Yeah,” she said, “you did. Kind of.” She ran a hand through her dark brown curls and sighed. 

“Look, like I said, I'm from the future. Specifically, the year 2051. And we’re...not in a good place. Bluntly? The future’s fucked! And my mentor, Vibe, he has the ability to see alternate timelines. So he looked at other worlds and realized that the worlds that looked the best had the hero scene starting far differently than ours had. And that, in all of them, you three ladies were in the front and center.” 

“So, what did you decide to do? And Dinah and I know a Vibe,” Mia asked, her hazel eyes narrowing. 

Esencia sighed and tugged on her shirt. “They're one and the same. Anyways, Vibe and I talked with some of the members of our team and decided that it would be best if I...did my thing. 

“You see, I'm a meta. But my ability is,” Esencia waved her fingers in a swirling manner, “different than most. I can control the  _ essence _ of a person. It's why I was dubbed Esencia by Vibe. It literally translates to essence, in Spanish. My real name is Valentina,” she revealed. 

Dinah tilted her head to the side in a distinctly bird-like manner. “What do your powers entail and what does this all mean?” she asked, her voice softer than before. Her grip on her adoptive sister hadn’t loosened, though. 

“A person’s essence is basically their soul,” Esencia explained. “And I can do anything with them. With your three, I took your essence from one of your most powerful moments. For you two,” she nodded at Dinah and Mia, “it was a moment of bonding for sisters after they had a silly moment where they kicked ass.” 

“For Shado, however,” she turned to Shado then, “it's her death. And it shouldn't have been.” 

“Meaning I shouldn’t have died or meaning that my death shouldn’t have been my most powerful moment?” Shado asked. 

“Both,” Esencia said. “In almost all of the other, successful timelines, you don’t die until you’re an old lady. Our timeline was the only one in which you died in your twenties and it was the most desolate time as well.” 

“So what is your plan?” Mia demanded. 

“I’m going to send the three of you to early in the year 2007,” Esencia began before Mia interrupted her. 

“Wait,” she protested, “2007? I don’t want to be twelve again!” Next to her, Dinah appeared intrigued at becoming twenty-one and Shado just looked relieved and wary. 

Esencia snorted. “I’m sorry,” she said, shrugging, “but 2007 is the best year to send you guys back and to fix everything. It’s before the Green Arrow gets trapped on the Island, something that still needs to happen, and it gives Shado time to train and prepare for her own time on the Island - ” 

“Wait, I’m still going to be trapped on the Liànyù?” Shado exclaimed. 

Esencia cringed. “Trust me, I looked and there is not a single way for you to avoid that - there are several ways for you to survive it, though! And I will be there the entire time, assisting you. We might even be able to save your father.” 

Shado’s eyes widened. “Bà?” she whispered, a pained expression crossing her face. Dinah and Mia sent her sympathetic looks. 

Esencia nodded. “There are ways for that to happen,” she said. “And I will be doing my damn best to do so.” 

“What about my dad?” Mia demanded. “And I don’t mean Merlyn. Will this save my dad?”

Esencia’s jaw tensed and she didn’t answer. Mia smiled thinly at her and looked away; Dinah took this moment to wrap an arm around her sister’s shoulders and to pull her into a hug. 

“Would you guys do this? If you say yes, you can’t change your minds - you will be stuck in the past forever,” Esencia said. 

Dinah and Mia exchanged a look and Shado ducked her head. After a moment of silence, Dinah said, “Mia and I will do it.” Shado nodded in agreement, signifying she would join them.

Esencia beamed. “Excellent!” she said. “I will help you as much as possible, though I will not have a tangible body. I’ll basically be a ghost.” 

“But we won’t?” Mia asked. “How does that work?” 

  
Esencia shrugged. “I’ll be shoving your souls into your past bodies. The second you are in them, you will overwhelm the essences your bodies once held and will be in control. However, I won’t be born until 2008 anyway and if I did become one with my past self, I wouldn’t be able to help you anymore. As long as I am in this form, I can be in this time!” 

The three women nodded. “Will we be able to see you?” Shado asked. 

“No,” Esencia said. “You won’t be able to see me, but you will be able to hear me, which is how I’ll be assisting you guys. Do you all accept the risk?” she asked. 

At first, they all hesitated, but after a moment, Shado said she did and Dinah and Mia both nodded. Esencia grinned triumphantly. 

“Great!” she exclaimed. “Take my hand.” 

  
After a moment of hesitation, Dinah grabbed one of her hands and wrapped her arm around Thea's waist while Shado grabbed Esencia's other hand. They then disappeared in a flash of golden light. 

**Author's Note:**

> please leave a review and feel free to yell at me about dc on my [tumblr](http://nonbinarydereknurse.tumblr.com/)


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